Holly Chayes

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.

This online space has been around in one form or another since 2010, it focuses on making, creativity and living a curious life, plus a lot of clothing.

Some of the projects I've worked on in the past 10+ years include...

Talking About Clothes with Holly Chayes

An interview podcast that's all about clothing (and also, not *really* about clothing at all). Find all the details and listen to conversations about comfort, style, change and shopping here. Or search for Talking About Clothes with Holly Chayes wherever you listen to podcasts.

Who Wears Who?

The Self-Made Wardrobe Project

Predecessor to Who Wears Who, a year-long challenge in 2014/2015 where I only wore clothes I made. That year would have been a lot easier if the clothes had magically made themselves. Learn more about The Self-Made Wardrobe Project and explore the archives here.

The Shawl Geometry Book Series

Enough shawl shapes to keep you knitting for a lifetime. A multi-year exploration of math, shape and space in knitting, where I documented traditional shawl shaping, and iterated on those traditions to create new recipes of shawl shaping. Ultimately this lead to 75+ shapes, and 400+ pages of common and uncommon shawl shaping instructions. This project was inspired by a dozen individual shawl designs, each encapsulating a love of geometric lace design. You can find The Shawl Geometry Series here.

Thank you for being here with me. –Holly

The self-made wardrobe. Day 1. Takes 2.

01 Aug 2014

The Self-Made Wardrobe

The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I wear only self-made garments, for one year. This project has two rules: 1. undergarments & accessories don’t count. 2. if it feels like cheating, it probably is. I post weekly updates here. It’s Day One of the Self-Made Wardrobe, take 2. I’m wearing…

Could this be the last of the apartment drama? (maybe?)

30 Jul 2014

what's in the works

Hopefully this week will be the last week of no knitting for a good long while. The apartment dramas seem to be coming to a close. Fingers crossed at least. The painting & re-plastering is finished, and looks amazing. The second round of bedbug chemical treatment, that got sprung on us last week, was done yesterday. So I’m holding my breath and hoping that’s over. Since all of my yarn has been packed away, I’ve been spending a lot of time reading, which has been a nice change of pace. I’m currently working my way through Hermione Lee’s biography of Edith Wharton, it’s fascinating but dense.* *that’s one hell of an understatement. And with the apartment a complete and total mess, I’ve taken to using any clear space as a desk. Even the floor. I posted yesterday that I’m restarting the Self-Made Wardrobe Project August 1st. (yay!!!) I can’t wait...

I’m restarting & restructuring the self-made wardrobe project. Whee!

29 Jul 2014

The Self-Made Wardrobe, Upcoming Projects

August 1st, I’m hitting the restart button on The Self-Made Wardrobe. Unpausing the project. Picking up the idea again. The Self-Made Wardrobe project is a project where I only wear garments made by me, for an entire year. I originally started it June 1st, but put it on pause because of health stuff, and bedbugs. Turns out that it’s really hard to make clothes while all your fabric is sealed away in plastic bags (bedbugs) and you’re lying on the couch feeling like complete crap (health stuff.) The health stuff is now sorted out, and the bedbug stuff is wrapping up over the next day or two (fingers crossed). So! I’m restarting the Self-Made Wardrobe project August 1st! (the day after my birthday…) But this time with a bit of restructuring. I’m trying to make it more sustainable. More interesting. More helpful. More inspiring. With more fun, less stress. (yes...

Welcome! I'm Holly Chayes.